TAHUCHA working towards change in north-western Tanzania

Tanzania humane charity (TAHUCHA) extends its sincere thanks and appreciation to Animal Aid abroad (AAA) supporters for enabling the group to work towards the main goal of improving working donkey welfare conditions in the Geita region of north western Tanzania.

“In the place we work, donkeys are heavily relied upon as a direct source of income generation for households and the nation at large. Despite this importance in terms of livelihoods for people, there is an apparent disregard and little awareness of the humane handling of donkeys. Urgent and persistent aid for emergency medical response and humane education is required to save the lives of donkeys from pain and suffering.

At its core, TAHUCHA, with its partner AAA, is working nonstop to reduce suffering and save the lives of working donkeys.

In March 2021, we were able to serve donkeys in the rural settings of 8 villages across 4 wards of the Bukombe District through mobile outreaches. The issues that have been in focus are donkey wounds and pain as a result of ox yoke harnesses, overworking, overloading and beating.

In March alone, we managed to attend to 398 donkeys with injuries which we managed to dress and successfully heal as well as various conditions of tetanus, colic, swelling under the skin including abscesses and hematomas, lameness due to tendon exhaustion, and pedal sepsis. All were checked and treated. The 67 donkeys in our care at the TAHUCHA sanctuary were treated and recovered in one to two weeks, four are still under our care but 63 donkeys have been released back to their owners.

Once the animals are treated, donkey owners are educated on the humane handling of donkeys. During March, 33 community members were able to be educated. We are proud of leaving a legacy of 3 champions working on a volunteer basis, some independent and some becoming independent on educating others in areas of fitting harnesses correctly, identifying minor wounds and cleaning wounds that need vet attention, identifying symptoms of illness in the communities.

Thanks to AAA supporters for helping enable TAHUCHA to evolve where the need is in the endeavour to assist abused working donkeys.